Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sunny long weekends are the BEST, and we've enjoyed this one very much. We had a great dinner at our place last night with Steve's parents and Liz, and then a beautiful walk out in Exeter at the Morrison Dam Conservation area, a walk we will definitely do again; the fall colours were beautiful! Everyone was more than happy to have an extra day off school (me especially), and it was nice to have a break from all the to and fro of sports and activities. Hendrik (grade 10) is playing club and school volleyball right now, so has a pretty full schedule. Alana has some school sports just getting going (basketball) and I coach her club team - that keeps us both busy with 2-3 practices/sessions a week plus tournaments. Jordan is playing house league hockey for a new (to him) team, and is loving it so far. That's just getting going too, but with his baseball tryouts just wrapping up he'll only have that one thing going on for the fall at least. After five years of playing rep baseball for the Talons, Hendrik is hanging up his cleats. He'll still play school ball and umpire, so he's not totally out of the game, but he wants to focus on volleyball and is ready to move on from the team. We support it fully, but I'll miss watching him play for sure! 

School has been so far so good too. It's hard to believe that Alana will be joining Hendrik at high school next year - it's her last year at St George's! Then it will just be Jordan. He's in grade 4, Alana grade 8 and Hendrik grade 10. I'm at the same school doing the same job, and it works for me for now; eventually it might be nice to switch to a school with a gentler clientele, but for now it's the devil I know so I'll take it. 

I realize I missed the end of the summer, Alana's birthday and probably a bunch of other stuff. So, random updates - Alana got a pet for her birthday (it was the only thing she wanted), so we now have a gerbil in the house... eek! She named her Misty, and she's grown on all of us (a little), but we are still aware that there is a rodent-pet and it has taken a bit of getting used to. We had a GREAT visit this summer with cousins from Calgary, and the kids spent almost two straight weeks visiting in London, Bowmanville and at the cottage. Alana and her beach volleyball partner Maddie finished their season strong by winning a bronze medal at provincials in Toronto on one of the hottest weekends of the summer. They did so well! I had a few fun nights out with friends this fall (yay) and am still playing basketball and women's league volleyball, and am loving them both! I'm very thankful I can still run and move and that I find/make the time and energy to do so. Anyways, it's beautiful outside so I'm going to get some photos up and get out there!